Salva Kiir, the President of the Government of Southern Sudan, was in our humble village today. He had a rally for the upcoming election, in which he is the only viable candidate. The rally was on a soccer field in Mere, the second biggest market in Kajo Keji and where most of our clients are located. The commissioner of Kajo Keji (like a mayor), the governor of the state (Central Equatoria), the Vice President and Cowboy hat wearing Salva himself gave speeches to resounding applause. I'm guess about 2-3,000 people were there. The governor's speech got Sudan-nuts sort of crazy, to the point that I was asking myself "what in the world is going on?" Then of course I remembered I was in South Sudan, not Dallas or DC. He went off on some sort of tirade (all in English mind you, but that I could barely understand) and this is but an excerpt: "This election is like a cock [Rooster] that you need to eat its head while its still living before you check the star for knowing who to mark the box to vote for". Then he proceeded to retell the story of Lucifer's fall from Heaven and said all the oposition candidate were modern day Lucifers that will one day burn for their transgressions. The VP and Commissoner's had much more vanilla speeches. The Commish was even quite policy-oriented, asking for better roads and more physicians at the hospital (we have one part-time for about a million people and he does 10-20 major surgeries a day). Check out the video welcoming the Pres to his podium. Also as he is arriving on Air Force One South Sudan (and yes, they brought 5 planes to the Kajo Keji air strip). It was a big day for this town.
-Thomas Bell, Managing Director Seed Effect: SUDAN
To follow Thomas' journey as the MD of Seed Effect in Sudan, check out his blog at http://thomasbell.posterous.com
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